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HISTORICAL  SKETCH 


AMERICAN  80ABP  OF  COMMISSIONERS  FOR 
FOREIGN  MISSIONS, 

WITH  GENERAL  STATISTICS 

or  OTlIEIt 

FOREIGN  MISSIONARY  OPERATIONS. 


1 

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HISTORICAL  SKETCH 


OF  THE 


AMERICAN  BOARD  OF  COMMISSIONERS 
FOR  FOREIGN  MISSIONS. 


WITH  GENERAL  STATISTICS 


OF  OTHER 


FOREIGx\  MISSIO.TARY  OPERATIONS, 


BOSTON: 

PRESS  OF  T.  R.  MARVIN  &  SOX,  42  CONGRESS  STREET. 

1859. 


This  brief  historical  sketch,  (as  full,  perhaps,  as  it  could  properly  be  made  in 
such  a  tract,)  with  the  appended  statistical  statements  respectmg  other  mission- 
ary societies,  is  printed  specially  for  pastors.  It  was  intimated,  at  the  meeting 
of  the  Board  in  Philadelphia,  that  something  of  the  kind  would  be  furnished, 
to  aid  them,  on  this  year  of  the  Board's  Jubilee,  in  preparing  to  present  to  their 
respective  congregations  the  claims  of  the  missionary  cause ;  and  it  is  earnestly 
hoped,  that  each  pastor  will  prepare  and  preach  at  least  one  sermon  on  this 
subject.  Brethren,  for  half  a  century  the  Lord  has  prospered  us.  The  progress 
which  has  been  made  within  that  time,  not  simply  in  the  work  of  missions,  but 
also  in  the  general  aspect  of  the  world  with  reference  to  that  work,  is  truly  won- 
derful. But  existing  missions  are  cramped  and  suifering  for  want  of  means ; 
and  "there  remamcth  yet  very  much  land  to  be  possessed."  At  this. favorable 
juncture,  shall  there  not  be  a  general  and  earnest  effort,  to  bring  the  churches 
to  a  higher  standard  of  missionary  consecration  ? 

Missimiary  House,  Boston,  November  28,  1859. 


SKETCH. 


Early  Missionary  Spirit. 

To  the  American  Board  of  Commissioners  for  Foreign  Missions,  the  year  of 
Jubilee  has  come.  It  is  a  time  to  rejoice  and  give  thanks.  We  cannot  too 
abundantly  utter  the  memory  of  the  great  goodness  of  our  covenant  God  and 
Savior. 

Of  all  the  foreign  missionary  boards  and  societies  now  pre-eminent  among 
the  benevolent  institutions  of  the  United  States,  this  Board  was  first  in  the 
date  of  its  organization.  Yet  it  must  not  be  supposed  that  the  spirit  of  be- 
nevolence— or  even  what  may  be  regarded  as  more  specifically  the  missionary 
spirit — had  previously  no  existence  in  the  American  churches.  Nor  must  it 
be  supposed  that  all  the  influence  on  the  churches,  which  led  them  to  enter 
on  the  foreign  missionary  work,  was  exerted  by  any  one,  or  any  few  indi- 
viduals. 

The  missionary  spirit  is  but  the  Christian  spirit  looking  upon  the  unevan- 
gelized ;  and  from  the  first  settlement  of  New  England  there  had  been  much 
of  this  spirit  in  the  churches.  The  fathers  felt  it,  and  that  settlement  has 
properly  been  called  a  missionary  enterprise.  The  condition  of  the  Indians 
at  once  moved  the  Christian  sympathies  of  the  Pilgrims  at  Plymouth.  The 
next  December  after  the  landing.  Elder  Robert  Cushman  sent  an  appeal  to 
England  in  behalf  of  "  those  poor  heathen."  In  the  course  of  another  year, 
one  of  the  colonists  was  act  apart  for  evangelical  labors  among  them ;  and 
in  1G3G,  preaching  to  them  was  provided  for,  by  an  enactment  of  the  Assem- 
bly. In  the  Massachusetts  Colony,  commencing  almost  ten  years  later  than 
that  of  Plymouth,  the  same  spirit  was  manifested.  Earnest,  and  by  no  means 
unsuccessful  efforts  for  the  evangelization  of  the  native  Indian  tribes,  had 
been  made  by  the  May  hews,  Eliot,  Sargent,  Braincrd,  Wheelock,  Kirkland, 
and  many  others,  extending  through  a  period  of  more  than  IGO  years,  from 
1G43  to  1808,  before  Mills  or  Hall,  Judson  or  Newell,  offered  themselves  as 
missionaries  to  the  heathen. 

The  missionary  spirit  of  the  mother  country  was  greatly  stimulated,  by 
such  Tracts  as  "New  England's  First  Fruits,"  &c.,  printed  in  London,  1G4.3  ; 
"The  Day  Breaking,  if  not  the  Sun  Rising  of  the  Gospel  with  the  Indians 
of  New  England  ;"  "  The  Clear  Sun-shinc  of  the  Gospel  Breaking  Forth ; " 
"The  Glorious  Progress  of  the  Gospel,  among  the  Indians  of  New  England;" 
with  other  publications,  from  1G17  to  IGm. 


4 


Ln  missionary  zeal,  in  cheerful  expenditure  of  property  and  life  for  the 
conversion  of  the  world  to  God,  the  first  generation  of  New  England,  it  is 
believed,  has  not  been  surpassed,  if  equalled,  by  any  succeeding  generation. 
Before  the  end  of  the  17th  century,  there  were  in  Massachusetts  alone,  more 
than  twenty  Indian  churches,  with  some  much  respected  Indian  pastors; 
and  in  172G,  Cotton  Mather  could  write:  "Let  it  be  remembered,  the 
Indians  in  the  Massachusetts  Province  are  all  Christiaiuzed ;  except  the 
Eastern  Salvages,  which  have  been  anti-christianized  by  the  Popish  mission- 
aries." 

But  although,  at  the  very  beginning  of  the  18th  century,  "  the  age  of  Mis- 
sionary Association"  had  fairly  begun,  the  century  well  nigh  "closed  with 
witnessing  little  more  than  individual  and  unsustained  endeavors  ;"  and  truly 
has  it  been  said,  by  the  author  of  the  Great  Commission,  that  had  these 
endeavors  "  been  all  suddenly  arrested,  only  a  very  feeble  call  would  have 
been  made  for  their  resumption." 

In  1746,  a  century  after  Eliot  began  in  earnest  his  missionary  lectures  to 
the  Indians  at  Nonantum,  the  churches  of  Scotland  recommended  a  general 
concert  of  prayer  for  the  conversion  of  the  world.  Jonathan  Edwards,  of 
Northampton,  in  Western  Massachusetts,  reponded  with  his  whole  heart,  8S 
doubtless  did  many  others;  and  in  the  year  following,  David  Brainerd,  dying 
in  the  bosom  of  the  family  of  that  peerless  American  preacher  and  divine, 
left  his  farewell  injunction  to  his  beloved  Christian  Indians  in  New  Jersey, 
to  remember  that  concert  of  prayer. 

The  old  French  war,  and  the  war  of  our  Revolution,  operated  disastrously 
upon  what  still  remained,  or  had  been  newly  attempted,  of  missionary  work 
among  various  tribes  of  Indians.  And  after  the  peace  of  1783,  the  state  of 
the  country  at  large  presented  so  many  local  and  personal  objects,  to  engross 
the  minds  of  the  most  disinterested  and  philanthropic,  that  the  work  of  mis- 
sions declined  to  the  lowest  point  of  languishment;  while  the  missionary 
spirit  in  England  was  in  much  the  same  state  of  depression,  from  the  opera- 
tion of  equally  unfavorable  causes. 

1 ,  In  1792,  William  Carey  preached  the  memorable  sermon,  from  Isaiah  liv. 

2,  3 ;  arranged  under  two  divisions — "  Expect  great  things  from  God  ;  attempt 
great  things  for  God ! "  The  Baptist  movement  for  India  was  forthwith 
commenced.  Three  years  later,  September,  1795,  the  London  Missionary 
Society  was  formed,  and  the  proceedings  and  enterprises  of  this  Society 
produced  an  indescribable  effect,  upon  large  numbers  of  influential  clergy- 
men and  laymen  in  the  United  States. 

About  the  commencement  of  the  present  century  it  began  to  be  obvious 
that  the  missionary  feeling  was  rising  and  extending  in  this  country,  and 
would  be  likely  soon  to  open  for  itself  new  channels  of  effort;  and  "  no  man 
was  the  leader  of  the  movement ; "  God  was  working  for  his  own  cause.  In 
1799,  the  Massachusetts  Missionary  Society  was  formed  at  Boston.  In  1804, 
the  constitution  was  modified,  and  the  object  of  the  society  was  defined  to  be, 
"  to  diffuse  the  Gospel  among  the  people  of  the  newly-settled  and  remote 
parts  of  our  country — among  the  Indians  of  the  country,  and  through  more  dis- 
tant regions  of  the  earth,  as  circumstances  shall  invite  and  the  ability  of  the 


5 


society  shall  admit."  Under  this  constitution,  this  society,  had  the  means 
been  furnished  it,  might  have  sent  missionaries  to  any  of  the  "  distant  regions 
of  the  earth ; "  and  some  of  the  sermons  preached  at  the  annual  meetings  of 
the  society,  as  also  sermons  before  other  missionary  societies  in  the  earlier 
years  of  this  century,  especially  one  by  Dr.  Griffin  before  the  General  As- 
sembly of  the  Presbyterian  Church  in  1606,  urge  the  claims  of  the  heathen, 
and  the  greatness  and  excellency  of  a  universal  missionary  work,  with 
eloquence  and  earnestness  which  have  seldom,  if  ever,  been  surpassed.  Dr. 
Parish,  the  preacher  before  this  society  in  1807,  alludes  to  "five  societies  in 
Massachusetts  for  propagating  the  gospel,"  to  "similar  societies  in  all  the 
states  of  New  England,"  and  to  "  missionary  societies  in  the  middle  states," 
as  then  existing.  The  Connecticut  Evangelical  Magazine,  commenced  in 
1800 ;  the  Massachusetts  Missionary  Magazine,  commenced  in  1803 ;  the 
Massachusetts  Baptist  Missionary  Magazine,  commenced  the  same  year; 
and  the  General  Assembly's  Missionary  Magazine,  or  Religious  Intelligencer, 
commenced  in  1805 ;  diffused  among  the  churches  much  intelligence  in 
regard  to  missionary  operations  in  foreign  lands. 

As  an  example  of  the  practical  effect  of  the  diffusion  of  such  intelligence, 
it  is  worthy  of  mention,  that  in  180(),  Mr.  Norris,  of  Salem,  when  applied  to 
by  Dr.  Spring,  to  aid  in  endowing  a  Theological  Seminary  at  Andover,  found 
himself  embarrassed  by  a  previous  determination  as  to  the  use  of  his  means. 
"  My  great  object,"  he  said,  "  is  the  foreign  missionary  enterprise ; "  and  he 
gave  §10,000  to  the  Theological  school,  because  convinced  that  the  effort  to 
establish  it  was  one  with  this  enterprise;  for  "we  must  raise  up  ministers  if 
we  would  have  men  to  go  as  missionaries."  The  same  year,  180(i,  Robert 
Ralston  remitted,  for  himself  and  others  of  Philadelphia,  $;3,.357  to  aid  the 
Baptist  Mission  at  Scrampore.  Dr.  Carey,  of  that  mission,  acknowledged 
the  receipt  of  $G,000  from  American  Christians,  in  1800  and  1807. 

There  were  thus  many  indications  of  a  missionary  spirit  in  the  churches 
of  the  United  States.  Still  it  is  true,  tliat  as  yet,  "  American  Christians  had 
never  combined  in  any  great  enterprise  or  plan  for  spreading  the  knowledge 
of  Christ,  or  advancing  iiis  kingdom ;  had  never  sent,  from  their  shores,  a 
single  missionary,  with  the  message  of  heavenly  mercy,  to  any  portion  of  the 
widely  extended  pagan  world"  abroad.  The  difi'crent  efforts  which  "had 
been  made  for  the  benefit  of  some  of  tlie  native  tribes  of  the  American  forest" 
had  been  "scattered  and  transient,"  and  "without  any  general  union,  or  any 
expansive  and  systematic  plan  of  operations." 

At  the  annual  meeting  of  the  Massachusetts  Missionary  Society  in  May, 
1810,  the  preacher.  Rev.  Jacob  Norton,  must  have  spoken  for  others,  quite  as 
much  as  for  himself,  when  without  knowing  any  thing,  as  is  supposed,  of  the 
wishes  and  purposes  of  any  missionary  candidates,  at  Andover  or  elsewhere, 
he  was  yet  moved  to  ask,  in  view  of  the  signs  of  the  times  :  "  Is  the  expect- 
ation, my  brethren,  visionary  and  unfounded,  that  the  time  is  not  far  distant, 
when,  from  the  United  States,  missionaries  will  go  into  all  the  world  and 
preach  the  Gospel  to  every  creature  ?  Yes,  my  brethren,  when  men  with  the 
holy  nrdor  of  an  Eliot,  a  Brainord,  a  Trnnent,  will,  inider  the  [jntronnge  of 
the  Massachusetts  Missionary  Society,  go  fortli  in  every  region  of  the  habita- 
« 


6 


ble  globe,  with  the  everlasting  Gospel  in  their  hands  and  upon  their  tongues, 
accompanied  with  the  fervent  prayers  of  thousands  for  their  success  ?  »  *  * 
Through  their  instrumentality,  will  not  '  Ethiopia  soon  stretch  out  her  hands 
unto  God,'  in  humble  prayer  and  exalted  praise  ?  Will  not  the  isles  which 
are  afar  off  be  glad,  and  shout  hallelujahs  to  the  Lamb  ?  Will  not '  the  wil- 
derness be  glad  for  them,  and  the  desert  rejoice  and  blossom  as  the  rose,' 
and  unnumbered  millions  hail  them  blessed  ?  Animating,  delightful  antici- 
pation !  We  pray  God  it  may  not  prove  '  like  the  baseless  fabric  of  a  vision,' 
but  a  substantial  and  glorious  reality ! "  Little  did  the  preacher  imagine, 
that  there  were  those  then  listening  to  his  words,  who,  in  less  than  a  single 
month,  not  in  connection  with  the  Massachusetts  Society,  but  as  the  founders 
and  administrators  of  an  entirely  new  and  more  important  institution,  would 
indeed  inaugurate  the  beginning  of  "  a  substantial  and  glorious  reality !  " 

In  June,  1806,  Samuel  J.  Mills  became  a  member  of  Williams  College. 
While  a  child  he  had  heard  his  mother  say,  "  I  have  consecrated  this  child 
to  the  sernce  of  God  as  a  missionary,"  and  from  the  time  of  his  conversion, 
in  1602,  he  had  ardently  desired  to  engage  in  the  missionary  work.  In  col- 
lege, while  laboring  faithfully  to  promote  true  piety  among  the  students,  he 
kept  this  work  constantly  in  mind.  In  the  summer  of  1800  or  1807,  at  a 
meeting  for  prayer  regularly  held  by  some  of  the  pious  students,  on  Saturday 
afternoons,  usually  in  a  grove,  but  on  this  occasion,  on  account  of  rain,  under 
a  haystack  near  by,  there  was  conversation  respecting  the  moral  darkness  of 
Asia.  Mills  proposed  to  send  the  Gospel  to  that  dark  and  heathen  land, 
saying,  We  can  do  it  if  we  will.  Others  present  were  delighted  with  the 
idea,  which  indeed  seems  not  to  have  been  new  to  some  of  them,  and  Mills 
proposed  that  they  should  at  once  make  the  subject  one  of  prayer,  under 
that  haystack,  which  was  accordingly  done.  September  7,  1808,  a  society 
was  privately  formed  at  Williams  College,  by  a  few  pious  students,  among 
whom  were  Mills,  Gordon  Hall  and  James  Richards,  the  object  of  which, 
the  constitution  says,  "  shall  be  to  effect,  in  tlie  persons  of  its  members,  a 
mission  to  tlie  heathen."  One  article  provided,  that  "  no  person  shall  be 
admitted  who  is  under  an  engagement  of  any  kind  which  shall  be  incom- 
patible with  going  on  a  mission  to  the  heathen."  Another  article  was  : 
"  Each  member  shall  keep  absolutely  free  from  every  engagement  which, 
after  his  prayful  attention,  and  after  consultation  witli  the  bretliren,  shall  be 
deemed  incompatible  with  the  objects  of  this  society ;  and  shall  hold  himself 
in  readiness  to  go  on  a  mission  when  and  where  duty  may  call." 

Designing,  now,  so  to  operate  on  the  public  mind  as  to  lead  to  the  under- 
taking of  a  foreign  missionary  work,  and  proceeding  with  great  modesty 
and  great  practical  wisdom,  they  republLslicd  and  circulated  some  impressive 
missionary  sennons,  and  o])ened  a  correspondence  with  some  of  the  emi- 
nently wise  and  good  men  among  the  clergy  of  tlie  country,  such  as  Rev. 
Messrs.  (iriffin,  Worcester,  Morse,  and  Dana.  Witli  tlie  same  end  in  view, 
and  to  influence  otlier  young  men,  one  of  the  number  transferred  liis  relation 
to  Middlebury  College,  in  Vermont.  Mills  visited  Vale  College,  and  some 
efforts  were  made  at  otlicr  institutions. 

Nor  were  these  young  men  alone  in  sucli  views  and  feelings.  Previous 


7 


to  the  formation  of  the  American  Board,  some  eighteen  or  twenty,  in  different 
localities,  some  of  them  ivithout  the  least  knowledge  of  the  persons  or  views 
of  others,  seem  to  have  been  led  to  consider  the  claims  of  the  Savior  to  their 
personal  services  in  a  foreign  missionary  work.  Not  more  than  half  of  these 
ever  went  to  the  foreign  field.  The  earliest  of  all,  Nettleton  and  Mills, 
while  providentially  prevented  from  engaging  in  direct  missionary  service, 
were,  perhaps,  even  more  instrumental  in  advancing  the  world's  evangeliza- 
tion, than  if  their  original  purposes  had  been  entirely  fulfilled. 

Formation  of  the  Board. 

In  the  autumn  of  1809,  Richards  became  a  member  of  the  Theological 
Seminary  at  Andover,  and  "labored  with  diligence  and  success  in  promoting 
a  spirit  of  missions  among  the  students."  Mills  followed  liim  to  Andover  in 
the  spring  of  1810,  and  Hall  soon  joined  them.  At  least  one  other  young 
man  was  there  also,  whose  thoughts  had  been  independently  directed  to  the 
same  great  subject — Samuel  Nott,  Jr.  "There  seemed  now  to  be,"  says 
one  who  was  there,  "  a  movement  of  the  Spirit,  turning  the  attention  and  the 
hearts  of  the  students  in  the  seminary  to  the  condition  of  the  perishing 
heathen."  Several  had  already  come,  or  soon  came,  to  the  resolution  of 
spending  their  lives  in  pagan  lands,  among  whom  were  Adoniram  Judson,  Jr., 
and  Samuel  Newell.  The  faculty  of  the  Seminary  were  consulted  and  ap- 
proved the  design,  and  on  the  25th  of  June,  1810,  according  to  previous 
arrangement.  Rev.  Dr.  Spring,  of  Newburyport,  and  Rev.  Samuel  Worcester, 
of  Salem,  met  with  the  professors  and  a  few  others,  for  further  consultation. 
It  was  thought  the  time  for  action  had  come,  and  the  young  men  were  ad- 
vised to  present  their  case  to  the  General  Association  of  Massachusetts,  which 
was  about  to  meet  at  Bradford.  The  next  day  Rev.  Messrs.  Spring  and 
Worcester  rode  together  in  a  chaise  to  Bradford,  and  during  that  ride,  be- 
tween those  two  men,  "  the  first  idea  of  the  American  Board  of  Commission- 
ers for  Foreign  Missions  was  suggested ;  and  the  form,  the  number  of  mem- 
bers, and  the  name,  were  proposed." 

On  Thursday,  June  28th,  Messrs.  Judson,  Nott,  Mills  and  Newell,  came 
before  the  Association  and  presented  a  written  paper,  in  which  they  stated, 
"that  their  minds  had  been  long  impressed  with  the  duty  and  importance  of 
personally  attempting  a  mission  to  the  heathen;"  and  they  solicited  tlie 
opinion  and  advice  of  the  Association  as  to  their  duty,  and  as  to  the  source 
to  which  they  might  look  for  support  in  their  contemplated  work.  The  sub- 
ject was  referred  to  a  committee,  who  reported  the  next  day,  recommending 
"  that  there  be  instituted  by  this  Association  a  Board  of  Commissioners  for 
Foreign  Missions,  for  the  purpose  of  devising  ways  and  moans,  and  ado])ting 
and  prosecuting  measures  for  promoting  the  spread  of  the  Gospel  in  heathen 
lands."  The  report  was  adopted,  and  the  following  persons  were  chosen  to 
constitute,  in  the  first  instance,  that  Board  :  llis  Excellency  Jolin  Treadwell, 
Esq.,  Rev.  Timothy  Dwight,  D.  D.,  (Jen.  Jcdidinh  Huntington,  and  Rev. 
Calvm  Cliapin,  of  Connecticut;  Rev.  Jose[)li  Lyman,  I).  1).,  Rev.  Samuel 
Spring,  1).  I).,  William  Bartlett,  Eh(i.,  Rev.  Samuel  Worcester,  and  Dca. 
Sanuicl  H.  Walley,  of  Massachusetts. 


* 


8 

Tlie  Commissioners  had  their  first  meeting  at  Farmington,  Connecticut, 
on  the  5th  of  the  folloiving  September,  five  only  being  present ;  viz.  His 
Excellency  John  Treadwell,  Esq.,  Rev.  Dr.  Joseph  Lyman,  Rev.  Dr.  Samuel 
Spring,  Rev.  Samuel  Worcester,  and  Rev.  Calvin  Chapin.  The  meeting 
was  opened  with  prayer  by  Dr.  L>Tnan.  A  constitution  was  adopted,  and 
officers  were  chosen.  The  Prudential  Committee  appointed,  consisted  of 
William  Bartlett,  Esq.,  and  Rev.  Messrs.  Spring  and  Worcester.  Mr.  Wor- 
cester was  chosen  Corresponding  Secretary,  and  an  address  to  the  Christian 
public  was  prepared,  accompanied  by  a  form  of  subscription. 

A  beginning  was  thus  made  ;  but  though  the  objects  of  the  Board  were 
regarded  with  favor  by  some  liberal  individuals,  it  was  doubtful  whether 
means  could  be  very  soon  secured  in  this  country  to  send  out  and  support  a 
distant  mission.  Yet  four  young  men  were  ready  and  waiting  to  be  sent. 
The  eyes  of  the  Prudential  Committee  were  turned  to  the  London  Mission- 
ary Society,  which  was  already  in  successful  operation,  and  in  January,  1811, 
Mr.  Judson  was  sent  to  England  to  confer  with  the  Directors  of  that  society 
on  various  points,  and  to  ascertain  whether  any  satisfactory  arrangement 
could  be  made  for  prosecuting  the  work  of  missions  in  concert ;  so  that 
American  missionaries  might,  for  a  time,  receive  their  support  in  part  from 
the  London  society,  without  committing  themselves  wholly  to  its  direction. 
No  such  arrangement,  however,  was  made. 

One  of  the  Prudential  Committee,  from  his  mercantile  habits,  probably, 
was  much  opposed  to  any  foreign  mission,  unless  there  was  a  fund  in  reserve, 
amounting  to  at  least  $G0,000,  for  the  support  of  four  missionaries,  in  case 
of  the  inadequacy  of  receipts  by  ordinary  donations  or  subscriptions.  But 
another  member,  the  Corresponding  Secretary  and  Clerk  of  the  Committee, 
was  firmly  persuaded,  that  with  a  proper  trust  in  God,  a  mission  might  be 
commenced  just  as  soon  as  an  eligible  field  should  be  opened,  whether  any 
such  fund  could  be  secured  or  not.  Some  eSbrt,  however,  was  made  to 
obtain  the  fund,  but  it  failed. 

Previous  to  the  mission  of  Mr.  Judson  to  England,  the  Committee  were 
once  in  session  at  Salem,  at  the  house  of  Mrs.  Mary  Norris.  This  noble 
woman  knocked  at  the  door  and  called  Mr.  Bartlett  into  the  entry.  "I  per- 
ceive," she  said,  "that  you  are  in  trouble  for  money.  Now  if  you  will  give 
$30,000,  I  will."  He  was  not  prepared  for  this  ;  but  it  should  perhaps  be 
mentioned,  that  he  united  with  her  in  defraying  the  principal  part  of  the  ex- 
penses of  the  mission  to  England,  amounting  to  about  $600.  Siie  died  a 
few  months  afterwards,  having  bequeathed  $30,000  to  the  Board,  and 
§30,000  to  the  Theological  Seminary  at  Andover. 

The  second  annual  meeting  was  held  at  Worcester,  Mass.,  September  18, 
1811 ;  seven  members  being  present.  The  Prudential  Committee  were  now 
decided  in  the  opinion,  "that  the  young  gentlemen  should  be  retained 
under  the  direction  of  the  Board,"  and  that  the  Board  should  "  trust,  under 
Providence,  in  the  liberality  of  tlie  Christian  public  in  this  country,  for  the 
means  of  supporting  thcui."  Donations  to  the  amount  of  $1,400  had  been 
received.  Messrs.  Jud.son,  Nott,  Ilall  and  Newell  were  appointed  as  miif- 
sionarics  to  labor  under  tlie  direction  of  this  Board  ;  and  it  was  resolved,  as 


9 


soon  as  practicable,  to  establish  a  mission  in  the  East,  attention  being  turned 
specially  to  the  Burman  Empire,  and  another  in  the  West,  among  the  Indians 
of  this  continent. 

As  the  country  was  shut  up  by  a  very  rigid  embargo,  there  was  no  imme- 
diate prospect  of  an  opportunity  of  procuring  a  passage  for  missionaries  to 
the  East.  But  late  in  January,  1812,  Messrs.  Newell  and  Hall,  who  had 
been  attending  to  medical  studies  in  Philadelphia,  returned  hastily,  with  the 
intelligence  that  a  vessel  was  to  sail  from  that  port  in  about  two  weeks  for 
Calcutta,  and  would  accommodate  the  missionaries.  The  Prudential  Com- 
mittee immediately  met.  It  was  short  notice,  and  only  about  1,200  dollars 
were  at  their  disposal ;  yet,  on  the  27th  of  January  they  resolved  to  send  out 
the  four  missionaries.  Then  another,  Mr.  Luther  Rice,  desired  to  join  the 
mission,  and  they  "  dared  not  reject  his  request."  Three  of  the  missionaries 
were  also  to  take  wives,  making  eight  persons  in  all.  It  was  soon  found  that 
the  brig  Caravan  was  also  about  to  sail  from  Salem  for  Calcutta,  and  that 
she  would  receive  a  part  of  the  company.  The  missionaries  were  ordained 
on  the  Gth  of  February,  in  the  Tabernacle  at  Salem,  and  after  some  delay, 
sailed,  Messrs.  Judson  and  Newell,  with  their  wives,  in  the  Caravan,  from 
Salem,  February  19,  and  Messrs.  Nott,  Hall,  and  Rice,  with  the  wife  of  Mr. 
Nott,  in  the  Harmony,  from  Philadelphia,  about  the  same  time. 

In  this  time  of  need,  "  the  Lord  made  it  to  be  remembered  that  the  silver 
and  the  gold  are  Ms.  The  hearts  of  the  people  were  wonderfully  opened  ; 
money  flowed  in  from  all  quarters ;  and  by  the  time  that  the  Caravan  sailed, 
the  Committee  were  able  to  meet  all  the  expenses  of  fitting  out  the  mission- 
aries, and  to  advance  for  each  of  them  a  whole  year's  salary.  In  addition  to 
this,  collections  were  made  at  Philadelphia,  during  the  same  interval  of 
delay,  and  delivered  to  the  brethren  who  sailed  from  that  port,  to  such  an 
amount,  as  to  make  the  whole  which  was  paid  to  the  missionaries  in  advance, 
equal  to  their  stipulated  salary  for  a  year  and  a  quarter,  nearly." 

From  this  small  beginning  the  Board  has  gone  on,  until  now  its  annual 
receipts  are  about  $350,000,  and  it  has  under  its  care,  in  different  parts  of 
the  world,  about  400  missionary  laborers,  male  and  female,  sent  from  this 
country,  and  nearly  500  native  helpers.  The  annual  meetings,  which  arc  now 
held  in  October,  from  being  attended  by  seven  members,  as  in  1811,  or  by 
nine  as  in  1812,  in  the  parlor  of  a  private  dwelling,  have  come  to  be  occa- 
sions of  fully  as  deep  and  extensive  interest  as  any  annually  recurring 
religious  occasion  in  the  United  States. 

ORGANizATiorr,  Mode  of  Operation,  &c. 

The  officers  of  the  Board  are  chosen  annually,  by  ballot,  and  arc,  at 
present,  a  President,  Vice-President,  Recording  Secretary,  Treasurer,  two 
Auditors,  four  Corresponding  Secretaries,  and  a  Prudential  Committee  of 
eleven.  This  committee,  whose  members  receive  no  compensation  for  their 
eers'ices,  meets  at  the  Missionary  House  at  least  once  every  week,  on  Tuesday 
afternoon,  for  the  transaction  of  business.  There  are  now  more  than  200 
corporate  members  of  the  Board,  residing  in  at  least  1!)  different  States  of  tlie 
Union.  These  alone,  by  the  charter,  are  voting  members,  forming  the  body 
corporate ;  but  the  payment  of  $50,  if  the  person  be  a  clergyman,  or  $100, 


10 


if  a  layman,  constitutes  any  one  an  honorary  member,  who  may  share  fully 
in  the  deliberations  of  the  annual  meetings.  About  11,000  persons  have, 
since  the  beginning,  been  thus  constituted  honorary  members.  There  is  also 
a  small  number  of  corresponding  members,  residing  mostly  in  foreign  lands, 
and  chosen,  as  are  the  corporate  members,  by  ballot. 

This  Board  is  neither  an  ecclesiastical  nor  a  denominational  body,  and  is 
not  supported  by  denominations  as  such,  but  by  individual  Christians.  The 
Commissioners  were  at  first  appointed  by  the  General  Association  of  Massa- 
chusetts, which  is  Congregational,  with  power  to  adopt  their  own  form  of 
organization  and  their  own  rules  and  regulations.  By  its  charter,  obtained 
from  the  Legislature  of  Massachusetts,  in  1812,  the  Board  elects  its  own 
members,  witliout  limitation  as  to  numbers,  or  residence,  or  religious  denom- 
ination ;  but  not  less  than  one-third  of  the  members  must  at  all  times  be 
respectable  laymen,  and  not  less  than  one-third  respectable  clergymen.  In 
1812,  the  Secretary,  in  behalf  of  the  Board,  suggested  to  the  General  As- 
sembly of  the  Presbyterian  Church,  "  the  expediency  of  forming  an  institu- 
tion similar  to  theirs,  between  which  and  theirs  there  might  be  such  co- 
operation as  should  promote  the,  great  object  of  missions  amongst  the 
unevangelized  nations."  The  Assembly,  however,  while  they  urged  the 
churches  under  their  care  to  aid  in  this  good  work,  thought  "  the  business  of 
foreign  missions  might  probably  be  best  managed  under  a  single  Board," 
and  so  declined  forming  any  separate  institution.  At  the  very  next  meeting 
of  the  Board,  (Sept.  1812,)  thirteen  new  members  were  elected,  from  seven 
different  States,  of  whom  eight,  4  from  New  York,  2  from  New  Jersey,  and 
2  from  Pennsylvania,  were  Presbyterians.  In  1831,  of  G2  corporate  members, 
31  were  Presbyterians,  24  Congregationalists,  G  Reformed  Dutch,  and  one 
Associate  Reformed ;  and  of  the  70  ordained  missionaries,  39  were  Presby- 
terians, 29  Congregationalists,  and  2  Reformed  Dutch.  Until  the  division  of 
the  General  Assembly  in  1837,  most  of  the  efforts  of  Presbyterian  churches 
in  the  United  States  for  foreign  missions  were  made  through  this  Board  ;  and 
this  is  still  true  of  what  are  called  New  School  Presbyterian  churches.  The 
Reformed  Dutch  church  co-operated  with  the  Board  until  1857,  then  forming 
a  separate  organization,  in  the  expectation  of  thus  increasing  missionary 
effort.  Missionaries  from  these  different  denominations  have  always  been 
sent  out  without  distinction,  and  generally  without  even  considering  their 
ecclesiastical  relations  in  designating  them  to  their  fields  of  labor. 

The  missions,  thus  formed,  arc  not  controlled  by  ecclesiastical  bodies ; 
though  perhaps  they  may  themselves  be  considered  as,  in  some  sense,  such 
bodies.  They  are  organized  and  governed  as  communities,  the  votes  of  a 
majority  of  the  missionaries  and  male  assistant  missionaries  deciding  all 
questions,  in  their  regular  meetings.  At  the  same  time,  they  may  enter 
into  organizations  among  themselves,  for  fraternal  or  ecclesiastical  pur- 
poses, as  associations  or  presbyteries,  according  to  circumstances,  and  the 
views  and  preference  of  the  majority.  So  far  as  any  use  of  the  funds  of  the 
Board  is  involved,  the  action  of  the  mission  is,  of  course,  subject  to  the 
revision  of  the  Prudential  Conunittee. 

By  its  charter,  the  Board  is  limited  to  the  work  of  "  propagating  the  Gospel 
in  heathen  lands,  by  supporting  missionaries  and  diffusing  a  knowledge  of 


11 


the  Holy  Scriptures."  Its  missions  are  conducted  with  reference  to  the 
ultimate  complete  evangelization  of  the  nations  or  communities  to  which  they 
are  sent.  They  are  not  regarded  as  permanent  institutions,  but  are  estab- 
lished to  plant  the  institutions  of  the  Gospel,  and  to  prepare  the  people 
themselves  to  support  these  institutions ; — to  gather  churches  which  are 
expected  to  be  ultimately  self-supporting  churches,  sustaining  their  own 
religious  teachers,  and  acting  for  the  still  further  propagation  of  the  truth. 
A  leading  object,  therefore,  has  ever  been,  as  fast  as  possible,  to  educate  and 
train  a  pious  native  ministry,  who  may  be  fitted  to  act  as  pastors  of  the  native 
churches,  and  as  evangelists  in  gathering  churches.  For  this  purpose,  not 
only  have  schools  of  a  lower  order  been  established,  but  seminaries,  in  which 
native  young  men  of  piety  and  promise  might  be  thoroughly  educated,  and 
also  boarding-schools  for  girls,  from  which  educated  native  preachers  and 
teachers  might  obtain  suitable  partners  for  life. 

With  the  same  end  in  view,  to  raise  up  Christian  churches  and  communi- 
ties, which  shall  be  independent  of  all  foreign  aid  and  foreign  instruction, 
much  labor  has  been  expended  to  reduce  unwritten  languages  to  a  written 
form,  to  prepare  faithful  translations  of  the  Scriptures,  and  to  give  a  Christian 
literature  to  those  for  whose  evangelization  the  missions  have  been  estab- 
lished. By  the  missionaries  of  this  Board  fifteen  different  languages  have 
been  reduced  to  writing,  and  the  Scriptures  have  been  translated,  wholly  or 
in  part,  into  more  than  twenty  languages.  Still,  it  is  ever  inculcated  upon 
the  missionaries  that  they  are  to  regard  themselves  as  sent,  emphatically,  to 
preach  tlie  Gospel,  and  thus,  with  Divine  assistance,  to  turn  men  individually, 
and  at  once,  "  from  darkness  to  light,  and  from  the  power  of  Satan  unto 
God ;"  and  that,  in  all  ordinary  cases,  every  other  work  is  to  be  subordinate 
to  this  in  the  labors  of  the  missions.  In  relation  to  other  societies,  the  Board 
acts  strictly  upon  the  principle  of  non-interference ;  in  agreement  with  others 
considering  "  certain  great  centres  of  human  society  and  marts  of  commerce, 
as  common  ground,"  to  some  extent,  but  in  all  other  cases,  avoiding  fields  of 
labor  which  are  already  occupied  by  others. 

Results,  Statistics. 

The  operations  of  the  Board  have  been  crowned  with  many  tokens  of 
Divine  favor.  This  is  not  the  place  to  give  particular  accounts  of  revivals, 
with  which  the  missions  have  been  favored ;  but  simple  reference  may  be 
made  to  revivals  at  Ceylon  in  1819,  1821,  1824  and  '25,  1830  and  '31,  and 
1835 ;  to  the  great  revival  at  the  Sandwich  Islands,  in  1838,  '39  and  '40,  as 
the  fruits  of  which  more  than  twenty  thousand  persons,  giving  hopeful  evi- 
dence of  piety,  were  received  into  the  churches ;  to  many  revivals  auiong  the 
Nestorians,  especially  in  1840,  18-1!!,  1850,  1851,  and  185G ;  to  repeated 
revivals  among  the  Choctaws  and  other  tribes  of  Indians  on  this  continent ; 
and  to  the  reformation  among  the  Armenians,  obviously  a  work  of  Divine 
grace,  and  one  of  deep  interest  and  great  promise,  though  differing  from 
many  of  the  revivals  already  referred  to,  which  has  been  in  progress  for  the  Inst 
twelve  or  fifteen  years.  In  all,  from  the  beginning,  more  thnn  fifty  thousand 
hopeful  converts  have  been  gathered  into  churches  connected  witii  the 
different  missions.    None  but  those  who  arc  thought  to  give  evidence  of 


12 


true  piety  are  received  to  the  churches,  and  much  care  is  exercised  by 
the  missionaries  in  receiving  members. 

The  receipts  and  expenditures  of  the  Board,  for  each  year  since  its  organi- 
zation, and  for  each  period  of  four  years,  are  presented  in  the  following  table. 

Tear.      Periods.         Beceipts.      Periods  of  4  Tears.  Expenditures.  Periods. 

1811,  $999  52  $999 

1812,  13,611  50  #9,699 

1813,  11,361  18  8,611 

1814,  12,265  56  7,078 

1815,  9,493  89  5,027 


$  46,732    $  30,415 


1816,  12,501  03  15,934 

1817,  29,948  63  20,485 

1818,  34,727  72  30,346 

1819,  37,520  63  40,337 


114,698    113,102 


1820,  39,949  45  57,621 

1821,  46,354  95  46,771 

1822,  60,087  87  60,474 

1823,  55,758  94  66,380 


202,151    231,246 


1824,  47,483  58  54,1.57 

1825,  55,716  18  41,469 

1826,  61,616  25  59,012 

1827,  88,341  89  103,430 


253,157    258,068 


1828,  102,009  64  107,676 

1829,  106,928  26  92,533 

1830,  83,019  37  84,798 

1831,  100,934  09  98,313 


392,891    383,320 


1832,  130,574  12  120,954 

1833,  145,847  77  149,906 

1834,  152,386  10  159,779 

1835,  163,340  19  163,254 


592,148    693,893 


1836,  176,232  15  210,407 

1837,  252,076  55  2.54,589 

1838,  236,170  98  230,642 

1839,  244,169  82  227,491 


908,649    923,129 


1840,  241,691  04  246,601 

1841,  235,189  30  268,914 

1842,  318,396  53  261.147 

1843,  244,254  43  256,687 


1,039,531    1,033,349 

1844,  236,394  37  244,371 

1845,  255,112  96  216,817 

1846,  262,073  55  257,605 

1847,  211,402  76  204,783 

9.    964,983    983,576 

1848,  254,056  46  282,330 

1849,  291,705  27  263,418 

1850,  2.51,862  28  254,329 

1851,  274,002  21  274,830 

10.    1,072,626    1,084,907 

1852,  301,732  70  257,727 
1863,  314,922  88  310,607 
18.54,  305,778  84  322,142 

1855,  310,427  77  318,893 

11.    1,232,862    1,209,369 

1856,  307,318  69  323.000 

1857,  388,932  69  355,590 

1858,  334,018  48  372,042 

1859,  350,915  45  376,419 

12.    1,381,185    1,427,051 

8,202,512  8,271,425 


13 


It  will  be  seen,  that  with  only  one  exception,  in  each  period  of  four  years 
there  has  been  an  advance  upon  the  receipts  of  the  previous  period.  But 
though  there  has  been,  on  the  whole,  constant  progress,  the  receipts  have 
often  fallen  below  the  expenditures,  and  there  have  been  several  seasons  of 
great  pecuniary  embarrassment  in  the  operations  of  the  Board.  In  1837 
embarrassments  of  this  kind  occurred,  the  sad  effects  of  which  were  deeply 
and  widely  felt.  For  some  years  previous  to  1836  the  means  provided  had 
been  sufficient ;  the  Prudential  Committee  felt  encouraged  to  enter  upon 
new  and  enlarged  operations,  and  the  call  was  specially  for  men,  while  the 
churches  supposed  there  would  be  no  difficulty  in  regard  to  means.  At  the 
annual  meeting  in  1836,  it  was  announced  that  64  missionary  laborers  were 
then  under  appointment,  who  were  expecting  soon  to  be  sent  abroad ;  but 
there  was  a  balance  of  about  $39,000  against  the  treasury  at  the  close  of 
the  financial  year,  (July  31,)  and  that  balance  was  increasing.  The  voice  of 
the  meeting,  however,  and  the  voice  of  the  churches,  still  was,  "let  the 
missionaries  be  sent ;"  and  the  means  seemed  likely  to  be  provided.  From 
October,  1836,  to  February,  1837,  the  receipts  greatly  increased,  and  in  the 
mean  time  60  laborers,  male  and  female,  had  embarked  for  their  respective 
fields.  But  now  there  came  a  financial  crisis,  of  great  severity,  in  the  affairs 
of  the  country.  The  receipts  of  the  Board  rapidly  diminished,  and  the  debt 
rapidly  increased.  The  Committee  felt  obliged  to  stop.  Laborers  under 
appointment  were  detained,  and  new  missionaries  were  appointed  only  on 
condition  that  they  would  not  be  sent  out,  and  must  be  at  no  expense  to  the 
Board,  until  the  state  of  the  treasury  should  warrant  it.  Thus  discouraged, 
many  turned  from  regarding  the  heathen  world  and  looked  for  other  fields 
of  Christian  labor.  But  this  was  not  all.  Difficulties  still  increasing,  the 
Committee  felt  called  upon,  in  June,  to  curtail  the  appropriations  which  had 
been  made  in  the  missions  for  the  year  1838,  by  $40,000  ;  and  the  missions 
were  informed  of  the  painful  necessity,  and  required  to  contract  their  opera- 
tions. With  60  more  laborers  to  be  supported,  the  pecuniary  means  of  the 
missions  were  thus  reduced  $45,000  below  what  iiad  been  allowed  in  1836. 
The  effect  was  deeply  painful.  Every  missionary  was  embarrassed,  and 
every  branch  of  missionary  operations  crippled.  Scliools  were  broken  up  or 
greatly  reduced,  and  in  Ceylon  alone,  5,000  children  were  dismissed  from 
under  Christian  instruction  "to  the  wilderness  of  heathenism  ;"  the  facilities 
for  preacliing  were  abridged ;  the  operations  of  presses  were  greatly  dimin- 
ished ;  native  teachers  and  other  helpers  were  deprived  of  employment ; 
native  Christians  were  disheartened,  and  the  opposing  heathen  triumphed. 

Still,  the  influence  of  this  reverse  was  not  simply  evil.  The  missions,  the 
Christian  public  at  home,  and  the  Prudential  Committee,  all  learned  some 
iini)ortant  lessons  ;  and  a  new  impulse  was  given  to  missionary  cflxirt,  partic- 
ularly in  the  rural  districts  of  the  country,  where  the  intelligence  of  the  dis- 
astrous influence  of  such  reduced  appropriations  was  received.  The  finan- 
cial embarrassments  were  felt,  first  and  most  severely,  in  the  cities  and  larger 
towns  ;  those  in  such  communities  who  would  have  given  liboruUy,  found 
thenxselves  deprived  of  the  means  of  giving  ;  the  country  churchrs  were 
thus  called  upon  to  come  with  more  liberality  to  the  support  of  tlic  inission- 
2 


14 


ary  work,  and  in  these  churches  the  amount  contributed,  and  doubtless  also 
the  number  of  contributors,  greatly  increased. 

Such  painful  consequences  of  financial  difficulty  have  never  since  occurred, 
and  it  may  yet  be  hoped  and  believed,  will  never  again  occur  in  the  history 
of  this  Board.  The  treasury  was  not  fully  relieved  until  1842.  Indeed,  in 
1841  the  debt  had  increased  to  $57,000 ;  and  for  five  years  again,  from  1847 
to  1851,  there  was  a  constant  balance  against  the  treasury.  In  1848  this 
balance  was  $59,890.  But  while  all  proper  economy  has  been  used,  and  the 
appropriations  to  the  missions  have  been  limited  to  the  lowest  safe  amount, 
the  operations  have  been  steadily  carried  forward,  and  relief  has  come. 
At  present,  as  the  friends  of  the  Board  well  know,  the  Treasury  is  again 
suffering  under  serious  embarrassment. 

Until  1838  the  Board  had  no  permanent  building  for  the  accommodation 
of  its  business  at  Boston,  which  has  ever  been  the  centre  of  its  operations, 
and  much  inconvenience  and  loss  had  been  experienced  from  frequent 
removals.  In  that  year  an  eligible  site  was  purchased  in  Pemberton  Square, 
and  a  substantial  building  erected  ;  the  whole  expense  being  met  from  per- 
manent funds,  which  could  not  be  used  to  sustain  the  missions  or  to  pay  the 
debts.  In  addition  to  this  building,  the  Board  now  has  invested  funds,  of 
which  the  interest  only  may  be  used,  amounting  to  $104,000. 

The  following  is  a  summary  view  of  the  missions,  as  presented  in  the  last 


Annual  Report  of  the  Board. 

Missions. 

Number  of  Missions,  26 

"       "  Stations,  127 

"       "  Out-stations,  ■   .       .  .131 

Laborers  Employed. 
Number  of  ordained  Missionaries  (8  being  Physicians),  170 

"       "  Physicians  not  ordained,    ....  5 

"       "  other  Male  Assistants  14 

"       "  Female  Assistants  210 

Whole  number  of  laborers  sent  from  this  country,      .   399 

Number  of  Native  Pastors,  21 

"       "  Native  Preachers  222 

"       "  Native  Helpers)  254 

Whole  number  of  Native  Helpers   497 

"         "      "  laborers  connected  with  the  Missions,   896 

The  Press. 

Number  of  Printing  Establishments  5 

Pages  printed  last  year,  as  far  as  reported,   41,629,940 

"        "      from  the  beginning   1,194,720,869 

The  Churches. 

Number  of  Churches,  (including  all  at  the  Sandwich  Islands,)  .       .       .  163 
"       "  Church  Members,  (do.    do.)  so  far  as  reported,*      .       .  23,515 
Added  during  the  year,  (do.    do.)  1,279 

Educational  Departvuent. 

Number  of  Seminaries,  7 

"       "  other  Boarding  Schools,  19 

«<  "  Free  Schools,  (omitting  those  at  Sandwich  Islands,)  .  .  313 
"       "  Pupils  in  Free  Schools,  (omitting  those  at  S.  I.)  7,911 

"       "      "        "     Seminaries   401 

"       '  Boarding  Schools,        .       .  680 

Whole  number  in  Seminaries  and  Schools,  .      .      .   8,892 


*  The  repoft  from  the  churchei  at  the  Sandwich  lalandi  !•  dufeetiva. 


15 


The  follo^ving  table  presents  the  more  important  statistics  of  the  missions 
at  different  periods,  separated  by  intervals  of  ten  years,  commencing  with 
1823,  eleven  years  after  the  first  missionaries  were  sent  out. 


ma 

1813 
1853 

'■s 

c 

s 

X 



9b 

.2 
38 

a 
o 
*• 
« 

C  « 

o 

29 
85 
131 
157 

a 

•3 

P  i 

i  ^ 

To 

a.  1 

"i  3 

5  ^  1  5  a 

CD 
tl 

eS 

s. 

V 
EB 

i  E 

OB 

&> 

1 

W  • 

o  S 

ir  " 

d  , 

«  iS 

be  si 

c  H 
c  "f 

S" 

a 

•o'g' 

■2 

B  o 

'u  "S 
c  . 

X  = 
o  c  = 
60  ^- '3 

e8 

1 
c 

CO 

a 

V 

a  ^ 

-! , 

.= '  a  • 
t;  1  o  c 
*  !—  c 

•3  • 

1'" 

"o 
o 

u 

Pupils  in  free 
gchools.  ^ 

8  25 
2i;  i6 
26  86 
28|  111 

42^  65 
44i  137 
39  178 

2lji  205 

3i  4 
4  50 
14  116 
39|  192 

10^ 

39  1,940 
62  20,7a7 
103  25,714 

16 
»' 

442,056,185 
908,132,478 

2 
7 
9 

201 
524 
487 

l|  £0 

22  699 

23  645 

I 

70 

610 
712 

3.000 
56,000 
30,778 
21,993 

It  is  hardly  necessary  to  dwell  here  upon  the  present  condition  and  wants 
of  the  missions.  The  facts  may  be  easily  gathered  from  the  late  Annual 
Reports,  the  brief  Annual  Survey  published  each  year,  in  January,  in  the 
Missionary  Herald,  and  from  the  correspondence  of  the  missionaries,  found 
in  the  Herald. 


GENERAL  RHSSIONARY  STATISTICS. 

In  addition  to  the  foregoing  sketch  of  the  origin  and  progress  of  the  Amer- 
ican Board  and  its  missions,  it  is  presumed  that  many  pastors  will  be  glad  to 
possess  at  least  a  genera!  statement  of  what  is  now  doing  by  other  missionary 
societies.  Some  statistical  articles  have  been  published  in  the  Journal  of 
Missions  during  the  past  year,  portions  of  which,  with  the  tables,  will  be 
given  here,  without  much  change.    The  Journal  says : 

"The  impossibility  of  obtaining  accjrate  and  full  statistics  of  existing 
foreign  missionary  operations  is  often  quite  perplexing.  So  defective  are  the 
reports  of  some  societies,  and  so  various  are  the  modes  of  classifying  labor- 
ers, adopted  by  different  bodies,  that  it  is  not  possible  to  gather  from  pub- 
lished documents  even  the  exact  number  of  missionary  laborers  now  employ- 
ed among  the  unevangelized.  Still  more  entirely  defective  and  perplexing 
are  returns  found  to  be,  when  an  effort  is  made  to  ascertain  who  among  the 
laborers  are  ordained  missionaries,  who  male  and  who  female  assistants  from 
Christian  lands,  and  who,  in  various  capacities,  native  helpers." 

Progress. 

"  But  though  full  and  exact  statements  as  to  what  the  Christian  church  is 
now  doing  for  the  pagan  world  cannot  be  made,  it  is  easy  to  ascertain  that, 
on  tlie  one  hand,  there  has  been,  of  late,  great  and  most  cheering  progress, 
and  tli.it,  on  the  other  hand,  immensely  greater  progress  is  yet  called  for. 

"Previo\is  to  the  latest  years  of  the  last  century,  very  little  of  organized, 
systematic  and  persistent  effort  for  tiio  conversion  of  pagan  nations  had  been 
made,  in  modern  times,  by  any  branch  of  tlic  evangelical  Ciiristian  ciuirch, 
excepting  the  Moravians.  Occasional  and  temporary  efforts,  8()ii)(>  of  them 
worthy  of  very  higli  commendation,  had  been  made,— by  the  church  of 
(jencva  in  155t);  by  Swedisii  Christians,  in  Lapland,  near  die  close  of  the 


16 


16.th  century ;  by  the  Dutch,  early  in  the  17th  century ;  nobly,  in  the  same 
century,  by  Eliot,  the  Mnyhews  and  others  in  Massachusetts  ;  by  the  king  of 
Denmark,  as  early  as  1705 :  and  by  Sargent,  Edwards,  and  above  all,  Brain- 
erd,  in  the  United  States,  before  the  middle  of  the  last  century.  Tlie  English 
Society  for  the  Propagation  of  the  Gospel  in  Foreign  Parts,  was  chartered 
in  1701,  but  its  operations  have  always  had  reference,  mainly,  to  the  religious 
interests  of  English  colonies. 

"  In  1732  the  Moravians  sent  out  their  first  missionaries.  '  Their  entire 
congregation  did  not  then  exceed  000  persons,  and  of  these,  the  greater  part 
were  suffering  exiles.  Yet  so  noble  and  extensive  were  the  exertions  which 
they  made,  and  so  abundantly  were  their  unostentatious  endeavors  blessed 
by  the  great  Head  of  tiic  church,  that  within  ten  years  their  heralds  had  pro- 
claimed salvation  in  Greenland,  St.  Croix,  Surinam  and  Rio  de  Berbice ;  to 
the  Indians  of  North  America  and  the  negroes  of  South  Carolina ;  in  Lap- 
land, Tartary  and  Algiers ;  in  Guinea,  at  the  Cape  of  Good  Hope,  and  in 
Ceylon.'  But  though  having  this  example  to  remind  of  duty,  and  encourage, 
other  branches  of  the  Christian  church  slumbered  still,  and  scores  of  years 
passed  away  with  so  little  movement,  that  when,  about  the  year  1784,  Carey 
proposed,  as  a  topic  for  discussion  in  a  Baptist  ministers'  meeting,  'The  duty 
of  Christians  to  attempt  the  spread  of  the  Gospel  among  heathen  nations,'  it 
excited  great  surprise,  and  he  was  called  an  enthusiast  by  his  brethren,  for 
entertaining  such  a  notion !  At  length,  however, 'the  fullness  of  the  time 
■was  come.'  In  1792,  the  Baptists  of  England  formed  their  Missionary  Soci- 
ety, and  soon,  with  Carey  for  a  noble  pioneer,  entered  on  their  foreign  work. 
It  was  like  the  letting  out  of  water.  Gradually,  but  now  with  comparative 
rapidity,  the  conviction  spread  that  the  Christian  church  should,  without 
more  delay,  attempt  the  evangelization  of  the  heathen.  Otiier  branches  of 
the  church  moved,  other  societies  were  organized, — the  London  Missionary 
Society  in  1795 ;  the  Edinburg  and  the  Glasgow  Missionary  Societies  in 
179G;  the  Netherlands  Missionary  Society  in  1797;  the  Church  Missionary 
Society  in  1800;  the  Society  for  Propagating  Christianity  among  the  Jews 
in  1808;  and  the  American  Board  in  1810.  To  the  credit  of  the  English 
Wesleyans  it  should  be  stated,  that  although  their  Missionary  Society  can- 
not be  named  as  among  those  earliest  formed,  they  were  a  missionary  body 
almost  from  their  origin,  and  had  been  more  or  less  engaged  in  foreign  work 
for  some  years  before  the  tbrmation  of  the  Baptist  Society. 

"  Since  1810,  many  other  organizations,  laboring  for  unevangelized  portions 
of  the  human  family,  have  come  into  being,— as  many  as  IG  in  Great  Britain, 
20  upon  tlie  continent  in  Europe,  2  in  British  North  America,  and  15  in  the 
United  States.  Nearly,  if  not  quite,  every  branch  of  the  evangelical  Protes- 
tant Christian  church,  is  now  found  to  have  entered  on  the  foreign  missionary 
work.  Moravians,  Episcopalians  and  Lutherans  ;  Presbyterians — English, 
Scotch,  Irish,  Dutch,  and  American;  Established  Church,  and  Free  Church  ; 
Old  School,  and  New  School;  Baptist — Northern  and  Soutlicrn,  Close- 
communion,  Free-will,  and  Seventh  day  ;  Congrcgationalists  and  Methodists, 
of  all  classes,  have  now  their  missionary  boards. 

"  What  means  this  moving  of  the  waters  ?  He  who  has  wonderfully,  in 
modern  times,  thrown  the  nations  open  and  prepared  the  world  for  Cliristian 
effort,  has  at  the  same  time  moved  his  whole  church  to  efibrt !  Has  he  not 
done  it  with  great  ends  in  view  ?  " 

Nt'MBER  OF  IjABORERS. 

"The  number  of  ordained  laborers  from  Christian  lands,  now  engaged  in 
the  foreign  missionary  enterprise  of  the  Protestant  (^liristian  church,  cannot 
be  perfectly  ascertained  ;  but  exclusive  of  those  laboring  among  Jews  and 
Roman  Catholics,  and  in  some  of  the  nominally  Protestant  countries  of 
Europe,  and  classing  all  the  'brethren'  of  tiic  Moravian  missions  with  the 
ordained,  (no  distinction  being  made  in  their  reports,)  it  is  more  than  1,500. 


17 


With  these  are  associated,  probably,  about  2,000  male  and  female  helpers, 
also  from  Christian  lands ;  and  of  native  laborers,  from  among  the  people 
where  the  missions  are  situated,  more  than  100  ordained  ministers,  and  some 
thousands  of  unordained  preachers,  catechists,  teachers,  &c. 

"  Looking  at  different  portions  of  the  world,  that  we  may  see  how  these 
laborers  are  distributed,  we  find  of  ordained  missionaries  connected  with 
different  missions,  though  not  at  any  time  all  on  the  ground,  (still  including 
all  the  Moravian  '  brethren,')  in  Western  Africa,  about  116  ;  Southern  Africa, 
163  ;  Nortlicrn  and  Eastern  Africa,  G.  In  Western  Asia,  European  Turkey 
and  Greece,  76.  In  Southern  Asia, — India,  Burmah,  Ceylon  and  Siam,  478. 
In  Borneo  and  the  Indian  Archipelago,  36.  In  China,  87,  and  Thibet,  3. 
Among  tlie  islands  of  the  Pacific  Ocean,  140.  Among  the  North  American 
Indians,  and  in  Labrador  and  Greenland,  171.  In  the  West  India  Islands 
and  on  adjacent  coasts  of  America,  23(i. 

"  It  is  thus  apparent  that  something  is  being  done.  The  church  is  not  now 
all  sleeping,  as  to  so  large  an  extent  and  for  so  many  centuries  it  did  sleep, 
over  the  condition  of  the  pagan  world,  doing  nothing  to  enlighten  and  to 
save.  Yet  let  it  be  considered,  that  the  unevangelizod  portions  of  the  hu- 
man family,  including  those  who,  though  nominally  Christian,  stand  hardly 
less  in  need  of  the  pure  Gospel  than  the  heathen,  must  number  more  than 
900,000,000.  To  give  one  preacher  to  every  ten  thousand  souls,  we  need, 
not  fifteen  hundred,  but  ninety  thousand  missionaries.  What  supply  is  this 
— two  hundred  and  eighty  missionaries  for  all  the  continent  of  Africa  ;  four 
hundred  and  eighty  for  the  two  hundred  millions  of  men  in  India,  Burmah 
and  Siam  ;  and  about  eighty  for  the  four  hundred  millions  of  China  I  Six 
preachers  of  the  Gospel  for  the  whole  population  of  the  United  States, 
would  supply  us  as  well  as  China  is  now  supplied ! 

"  Enough  missionaries  from  Christian  lands  to  supply  the  world  with 
preachers,  cannot  be  sent.  Missions  must  commence  the  work,  and  raise  up 
churches  and  preachers  on  the  ground,  to  go  forward  with  it.  Still,  obvi- 
ously, as  yet,  our  vii.isionarij  work  is  but  co.mmenced.  Yet  when  we  reflect 
that  it  has  grown  to  its  present  magnitude  almost  wiiolly  within  sixty  years 
— that  of  all  the  fields  at  which  we  have  glanced,  sixty  years  ago  but  very 
few  were  occupied — we  are  constrained  to  say  :  '  This  is  the  Lord's  doing  ; 
it  is  marvellous  in  our  eyes.'  " 

Income  of  Missionary  Societies. 

"  Small  as  are,  now,  the  contributions  of  most  churches,  and  most  individual 
Christians,  for  the  great  work  of  evangelizing  the  world  ;  inadequate  as  are, 
at  present,  the  receipts  of  most  Missionary  Societies ;  and  frequent  and 
urgent  as  are  appeals  for  more  pecuniary  means  ;  some  encouragement  may 
also  be  gathered,  certainly,  from  contrasting  the  present  with  the  past  in 
this  rcspLxt.  When  the  American  Board  was  formed,  in  1610,  the  whole 
annual  income  of  all  the  Protestant  Foreign  Missionary  Societies  then  ex- 
isting, probably  did  not  amount  to  5;200,000.  The  receipts  of  the  English 
Church  Missionary  Society  were  then  but  about  $1.'>,000  per  annum,  those  of 
the  English  Baptist  Missionary  Society,  not  far  from  $20,000,  and  those 
of  the  London  Missionary  Society,  perhaps  ,*80,000.  The  few  other  tiicn 
existing  Societies  have  ever  been  comparatively  small. 

"  Since  that  time,  while  the  number  of  distinct  organizations  for  the  pros- 
ecution of  this  work  has  greatly  iiicreas(!d,  (amounting  now  to  more  than 
forty,)  tiio  income  of  the  older,  as  well  as  of  many  of  tlie  newer  SorieticH, 
has  also  largely  increased.  For  the  year  rej)orted  in  the  following  tables, 
the  whole  income  of  the  English  Ciuirch  Missionary  Society  exceeded 
$800,000;  that  of  the  London  Missionary  Society  wjis  about  $4ti."),0()(),  and 
tiiat  of  the  English  Wesleyan  Society,  $(>4r),()00.  Tiie  English  Rjiptist 
Society  received  $130,000,  the  Foreign  Mission  Scheme  of  the  Free  Ciuirch 


18 


of  Scotland,  $80,000,  and  that  of  the  Church  of  Scotland,  $40,000.  Thus 
the  united  income  of  these  six  Societies,  for  the  year  ending  in  1859,  ex- 
ceeded $2,000,000.  In  the  United  States,  the  income  of  the  American 
Board,  for  the  same  year,  was  about  $351,000;  of  the  Presbyterian  Board, 
$212,000  ;  of  the  Baptist  Union,  about  $102,000 ;  and  of  the  Episcopal  Board, 
$99,000.  The  receipts  of  the  Methodist  Missionary  Society,  for  Home  and 
Foreign  Missions,  were  about  $185,000;  the  expenses  connected  with  their 
Foreign  Missions,  not  far  from  $84,000. 

"  There  is  another  pleasant  fact  in  this  connection.  While  the  number  of 
contributors  has  been  greatly  increasing,  some  have  been  learning  to  give 
in  much  larger  sums  than  formerly.  A  very  considerable  number  now  give, 
annually,  by  hundreds,  and  some  by  thousands  of  dollars,  to  this  single  cause. 
On  making  some  inquiry,  a  few  years  since,  it  was  found  that  more  than  one- 
twentieth  part  of  all  that  the  American  Board  had  received  in  donations,  the 
previous  year,  was  given  by  sixty  individuals.  Most  of  the  same  persons 
who  are  yet  living,  probably  do  fully  as  much,  many  of  them  more,  from  year 
to  year  now.  But  a  much  larger  number  of  individuals  might  be  found,  of 
fully  as  much  ability  as  these  possess,  and  who  do  what  they  do  for  the  cause 
of  missions  through  the  same  Board,  whose  united  annual  contributions  would 
hardly  support,  in  the  foreign  field,  one  preacher  of  the  gospel.  At  the  same 
time,  it  was  found  that  more  than  one-tenth  of  the  whole  amount  of  the 
previous  year's  donations  (or  .f. 30,559)  came  from  tliirteen  churches  in  Massa- 
chusetts, connected  with  which  there  were  then  5,176  members.  Other 
thirteen  churches  in  the  same  State  were  found,  with,  in  all,  5,170  members, 
whose  contributions  for  the  same  year  amounted  to  $2,(543  only  ;  less  than 
one-hnndredth  part  of  the  income  from  donations. 

"  It  is  apparent,  therefore,  that  there  is  great  inequality,  and  great  room  for 
improvement.  But  there  is,  perhaps,  ground  for  hope,  and  expectation  of 
future  progress,  in  the  very  fact  that,  as  yet,  so  few  have  learned  to  devise 
liberal  things.  When  all  the  churches  can  be  induced  to  do  for  this  cause 
as  a  few  are  now  doing  ;  still  more,  when  all  Christ's  disciples  can  be  induced 
to  do  in  any  good  measure  as  they  should,  or  even  as  some  now  do,  the  income 
of  our  missionary  societies  may  be  counted,  not  by  thousands,  but  by  mil- 
lions." 

The  Tables. 

"  Much  time  and  labor  have  been  expended  in  efforts  to  make  tlie  following 
tables  as  complete  as  possible  ;  yet  they  must  be  taken  as  indications  of  what 
has  been  attcmplcd,  and  not,  by  any  means,  as  finished  and  satisfactory. 
Some  of  the  difficulties  encountered  in  any  such  attempt  to  procure  accurate 
statistics  have  been  already  mentioned.  The  latest  reports,  also,  of  some  of 
tlie  smaller  missionary  societies  have  not  been  accessible.  When  figures  are 
given,  and  there  is  yet  special  nncertainh/,  from  any  cause,  as  to  their  correct- 
ness, a  mark  of  interrogation  is  annexed,  designed  to  indicate  tliis  uncertainty. 
There  are  doubtless  inaccuracies  in  cases  not  thus  designated,  and,  in  very 
many  instances,  blanks  are  left,  when  it  would  be  very  i)lcasant,  were  it  pos- 
sible, to  give  tiie  facts.  In  most  cases  the  statistics  are  from  reports  of  the 
year  1858  ;  in  a  few  instances,  rejjorts  of  the  present  year,  (1859,)  were 
available.  Missionaries  to  the  .lews,  to  lloinan  Catholics,  and  to  some  nomi- 
nally Protestant  European  nations,  are  not  included  in  the  tables." 

[As  now  published,  th""  income  of  nrarly  all  the  Amorican,  ard  of  the  four  first 
meiitioiied  Knfjlish  Societies,  viz.,  the  Church,  the  I,ondon,  the  Wcsleynn,  and  the 
Ciiptist,  is  given  for  the  year  ending  in  1859.  Other  statistics  have  not  been  clianged.] 


GENERAL  VIEW  OE  EOREIGN  MISSIONS. 


SOCIETIES. 

Missionaries. 

Male  assistant  mis- 
sionaries. 

Total  of  male  Ameri- 
can or  European 
laborers. 

Female  helpers. 

(American  or  Euro- 
pean.) 

Ordained  native 
preachers. 

Unordained  native 
preachers. 

Total  of  native 
preachers. 

Other  native  helpers. 

Members  of  church  c;.. 

Pupils  in  schools. 

Income  of  the  Society. 

American  Societies. 

173 

15 

188 

208 

20 

188 

208 

314 

27,740 

17,020 

$  350.915 

l^resby terian  Board,  (including  Rcfornied  Presbyterians,) 

65 

22 

87 

90 

3? 

35? 

38? 

211,968 

3 

5 

3? 

3? 

American  Missionary  Association,  ..... 

1.5 

8 

23 

20 

1 

2 

3 

12 

1,493 

613 

1 

14 

16 

326 

157? 

25,035 

5 

5? 

2 

86 

457 

13 

8 

21 

4 

16 

321 

1,453? 

99,476 

48 

3? 

51? 

39? 

30? 

2,556 

t84,000? 

30 

3,869 

1,261 

40 

40 

43 

30 

214 

246 

16,3:16 

102,140 

40? 

26 

66? 

2 

27? 

11 

1,225 

633 

39,824 

4 

4 

4 

2 

6 

8 

2 

79 

4,013 

3 

1,952 

Baptist  Free  Mission      i  y,    .  . 

3 

4 

T  t  1 

463 

European  Societies. 

J^nglisli  V'tiurcH  Alissionary  oociety,  .... 

186 

42 

228 

41 

2,100 

18,560 

25,156 

£  161,376 

122 

13 

135 

18,221 

33.977 

93,431 

198 

18 

216 

104? 

44 

950 

80,307 

92,912 

129,076 

I3aptist  Missionary  Society,  ...... 

68? 

7? 

75? 

8? 

112? 

26,513 

8 

1 

9 

10 

13 

324 

4,464 

8? 

8,264 

^ree  Church  of  Scotland,  •       *             .•  • 

28 

9 

6 

14 

79 

611 

9,696 

16,028 

oociety  tor  tiie  i  ropagation  01  tne  tjospei,^  ... 

82? 

1,5'JO 

4? 

1? 

3? 

28? 

8 

20,448 

3? 

AVelsh  Presbyterians  and  Calvinistic  Methodists,    .  . 

4 

English  Chinese  Evangelization  Society,  ... 

5 

164? 

164 

143 

20,193 

14,553 

51 

18 

69 

76 

1,212 

2,342 

23 

146 

8,290 

31 

5? 

36? 

23 

1,741 

French  Evangelical  Missionary  Society,  .... 

12 

76? 

11? 

3,229? 

1,100 

1,994 

Uerlin  Missionarv  Society,  ...... 

15? 

2? 

17? 

$  18,000? 

3 

Norwegian  Missionary  Society,        ■       .       .       .  . 

1? 

6? 

7? 

Gosner's  Missionary  Society  

5? 

13? 

18? 

12? 

12 

1,075 

1,538 

•  The  receipts  of  the  Association  for  its  last  reported  year,  were  $50,512,  for  all  its  missions,  Forei^  and  Home. 

t  The  receipts  of  the  Missionnn-  Society  of  the  Methodist  Episcopal  Church  are  for  all  missionary  purposes,  Foreign  and  Domestic,  no  distinction  being'  made.  It 
cannot  be  said,  therefore,  with  perfect  accuracy,  what  is  the  income  for  Foreign  Missions. 

J  The  reports  of  this  Society  do  not  disting-uish,  in  its  missions  among  the  North  American  Indians,  between  missionaries  from  the  United  States  and  ordained 
natives.    Seventeen  of  its  missionaries  in  Africa  are  colored  "  colonists." 

$  Most  of  the  operations  of  this  Society  are  among  English  colonists,  and  there  are  no  means  of  knowing  fully  how  many  of  its  406  mieBionarics  arc  laboring  for 
the  unevangeliied. 


19 


The  following  tables,  in  connection  with  one  already  given  (page  12)  of 
the  receipts  of  the  American  Board,  will  serve  to  indicate,  in  some  measure, 
the  progress  which  is  being  made  in  missionary  effort  by  some  branches  of 
the  Christian  church.  The  receipts  of  the  two  English  societies,  it  will  be 
noticed,  are  given  in  pounds  sterling,  and  must  be  multiplied  by  five  to 
reduce  them  to  dollars. 


Receipts  of  the  General  Assembly  s  Board  of  Foreign  Missions.'^ 

Tear. 


1838, 
1839, 

1840, 
1841, 
1842, 
1843, 

1844, 
1845, 
1846, 
1847, 

1848, 
1849, 
1850, 
1851, 

1852, 
1853, 
1854, 
1855, 

185fi, 
1857, 
1858, 
1859, 


Beceipts. 

$44,748 
5(j,150 

54,425 
G2,344 
58,924 
54,760 

66,674 
72,117 
76,395 
82,739 

89,165 
96,294 
104,665 
108,544 

117,882 
122,615 
140,719 
138,797 

145,202 
1.58,189 
179,210 
161,368 


Periods. 


1100,898 


230,453 


297,925 


398,668 


520,013 


643,969 


Av.  Annual  Beceipts. 


50,449 


57,613 


74,481 


99,667 


130,003 


160,992 


*  The  gr&ni*  of  Bible  and  Tract  Bocietics,  and  appropriatioaa  from  the  United  States  GoTern- 
menl  fur  Indian  missions,  have  been  deducted. 

t  For  two  years  only. 


20 


Receipts  of  the  Church  Missionary  Society,  England. 


Tear. 

Keceipts.  Periods. 

Av.  Annual  Receipts. 

183G, 

£  70,4G5 

1837, 

74,731 

1838, 

91,723 

1839, 

95,505  332,424 

£  83,106 

1840, 

104,304 

1841, 

101,576 

1842, 

113,263 

1843, 

111,875  431,018 

107,754 

1844, 

103,661 

1845, 

102,495 

184G, 

105,0.59 

1847, 

119,410  430,625 

107,456 

1848, 

115,012 

1849, 

101,003 

1850, 

94,401 

1851, 

101,.554  411,970 

102,992 

1852, 

118,674 

1853, 

120,932 

1854, 

123,915 

1855, 

124,260  487,781 

121,945 

185(5, 

127,782 

1857, 

136,000 

1858, 

164,484 

1859, 

161,376  589,642 

147,410 

Receipts  of  the  London  Missionary  Society. 


Tear.- 

Receipts.  Periods. 

Av.  Annual  Keceipts. 

1836, 

£  63,714 

1837, 

71,335 

1838, 

84,821 

1839, 

80,321  300,191 

£  75,047 

1840, 

94,954 

1841, 

96,771 

1842, 

91,795 

1843, 

93,947  377,467 

94,366 

1844, 

89,124 

1845, 

90,715 

1846, 

82,991 

1847, 

81,183  344,013 

86,003 

1848, 

87,925 

1849, 

()7,563 

1850, 

()4,642 

1851, 

7-i,'.aD2  292,422 

73,105 

1852, 

72,778 

1853, 

71,821 

1854, 

76,781 

1855, 

5<»,(i05  281,045 

70,261 

18.56, 

82,331 

1857, 

()7,277 

1858, 

84,150 

1859, 

!j3,4;jl  327,189 

81,797 

